Obama’s 5 Worst Foreign Policy Decisions

Since Barack Obama has been the Hindenburg of Presidents on the domestic front, there hasn’t been as much commentary as you’d expect about the fact that he has been the Titanic of Presidents on foreign policy.

George W. Bush certainly made his mistakes as President, primarily in Iraq, but you did at least get the sense that his administration was full of capable, serious adults sincerely grappling with a new strategic problem for the country. On the other hand, when it comes to foreign policy, Obama comes across like a bored kid playing war because his mother won’t let him come inside and play with his Xbox.

He doesn’t care very much, he’s not prepared, and he doesn’t spend a lot of time thinking things through. It’s like Obama just ponders the issues in-between shots on the golf course, formulates his policy by shooting from the hip, then gives a speech about it and thinks his work is done.

We may have laughed at the incompetence of the Obama Administration when it gave a “reset” button to the Russians that actually said “overcharge” or when the POTUS bowed to a foreign leader like he was his butler instead of the President of the United States, but there are real consequences to Obama’s buffoonery on the world stage.

5) Benghazi: Congress is still investigating Benghazi, but best case scenario, the Obama Administration got Americans killed in Libya by ignoring their repeated requests for more security in a dangerous part of the world. Worst case scenario, the Obama Administration got them killed, deliberately misled the public about what happened for political purposes, and did nothing when it could have conceivably acted and saved their lives. When all the investigations are completed, we’ll have a clearer picture of what happened, but at a minimum, good people are dead because the Obama Administration didn’t take basic precautions to save their lives.

4) Libya: Gaddafi was an evil dictator with American blood on his hands, but he had also been scared straight by Bush’s invasion of Iraq and was cooperating with the United States. So naturally, Obama signaled the world that it was dumb to work with us by helping radical Islamists defeat Gaddafi. Today, Libya has implemented Sharia law, is a hotbed of terrorism and is descending into civil war. Meanwhile, many of Obama’s supporters still consider that country to be a “success story.” Maybe it is compared to say, Obamacare — but like most of Obama’s presidency, we’d have all been better off if he’d just done nothing and let Gaddafi crush the radical Islamists.

3) Obama’s Iranian Nuclear Deal: After a lot of grumbling that Obama wasn’t doing anything to stop Iran from building nuclear weapons, Obama swung into action and made the situation even worse. He signed a deal with Iran that will allow it to rake in somewhere between 7 and 20 billion dollars in sanctions relief and frozen assets even as it CONTINUES to work on enriching uranium. In other words, the Iranians get billions of dollars, give up nothing of consequence and when anyone complains, Obama claims the problem is solved because we have a “deal” in place stopping Iran from getting nuclear weapons. Given how bad a negotiator Obama is, I guess we should feel lucky that he didn’t just give Iran a nuclear bomb in return for promises that it will never use it.

2) The Bowe Bergdahl swap: There’s a reason that it is our nation’s policy not to negotiate with terrorists. If you reward terrorists for their terrorism, it encourages more of the same. So, when Barack Obama broke the law to release five Taliban generals in return for deserter Bowe Bergdahl, he served notice to every terrorist on the planet that kidnapping Americans could pay big dividends. So it’s not exactly shocking that ISIS is promising to murder a captured relief worker if the U.S. doesn’t pay it millions and release Aafia Siddiqui AKA “Lady al-Qaeda.” After the Bergdahl deal, why wouldn’t ISIS expect that to work? Why wouldn’t Al-Qaeda start trying to capture our troops to trade for terrorists in Gitmo? How many of our soldiers will end up being kidnapped and held because of this swap? How many Americans will die when those Taliban generals inevitably go back to the fight? The Bergdahl swap was illegal, short-sighted, and stupid. In other words, it was VERY OBAMA.

1) Iraq/Isis: Despite being told over and over again that it was a terrible idea to set up a timeline in Iraq and pull out of the country for political reasons without getting a Status of Forces Agreement, Obama did it anyway. Then he bragged that “We’re leaving behind a sovereign, stable and self-reliant Iraq.”

Not so much.

That’s because ISIS sprang up in Syria as one of the groups fighting anti-American dictator Bashar al-Assad. After Assad rather famously crossed Obama’s imaginary “red line” by using chemical weapons against the rebels trying to overthrow him, Obama wanted to aid them, even though there was every indication that radicals were taking over the movement. Had the public outcry not stopped him, it’s entirely possible Obama would have accidentally ended up helping ISIS take over Syria.

After ISIS gathered strength, it moved into Iraq where it outfought an Iraqi army that outnumbered it 15-to-1. If only those troops had more American training and a minimal amount of American air support, they would have crushed ISIS like a steamroller running over a watermelon with no U.S. casualties. Instead, there’s now an Islamic State stretching from Syria to Iraq run by maniacs who are committing genocide against Christians, taking sex slaves, and promising terrorist attacks against the United States.

What’s Obama’s plan to handle this disaster his policies created? Earlier this week, he said,

“We don’t have a strategy yet. We need to make sure that we’ve got clear plans. As our strategy develops, we will consult with Congress.”

John Hawkins

Leave a Comment

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please hover over that comment, click the ∨ icon, and mark it as spam. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.

John Hawkins's book 101 Things All Young Adults Should Know is filled with lessons that newly minted adults need in order to get the most out of life. Gleaned from a lifetime of trial, error, and writing it down, Hawkins provides advice everyone can benefit from in short, digestible chapters.